Character Names

[richlevy]

Well, the Belgariad had some cool names. Belgarath and Barak were mentioned.

The thief/acrobat/spy was nicknamed Silk.
Polgara and her mother Poledra.
Durnik the level-headed blacksmith.

A nice list of Belgariad characters names can be found

here

Some characters were named for their tasks. Brand was the caretaker leader of an island nation. Brand was a title and a name, since all caretakers gave up their names on assuming the post.

An orphaned child whose errand was to steal an object was named Errand, since that was the only word he would speak.


Names in fantasy books are usually more interesting than those in hard science fiction since the authors usually draw upon some form of historical language to come up with something unique.

When SF deals with alien races, it seems they just cobble together some letters and sounds that match the sounds they think the earth critter most similar to the aliens would make or evoke.

If your aliens look like a giant crickets, then their names would be Ch'kk'irp or T'kkitp.
Giant crocodiles? - then Hssoar or Gr'owrah.
Giant Armadillos? - Kee'ractk or Tr'uod'tl